Chivas the first step to finish season strong (with video)

Vancouver will need to get gruff with the Goats if the team wants to end on ‘a good run’

Vancouver Sun sports reporter Gary Kingston breaks down the MLS game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Chivas USA.

You don’t get the luxury of a redo in Major League Soccer, so slipping into a time machine and replaying the Whitecaps’ disastrous 3-1 loss to Chivas USA at BC Place Stadium a month ago isn’t going to happen.

Although they generated chances and might have deserved better, those were three crucial points lost in the worst home defeat of the season. But the Caps can make amends by turning the tables on the Western Conference cellar-dwellers Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

“It was one of those things first time we played there (a disappointing 1-1 draw in March), we didn’t show up.

“At home, we got beat even though we might have played pretty good soccer, but we still lost. So (Saturday), we need to make sure we do all the little things, fight and scrap, and we should get a win out of it.”

And that’s been the rub for the 7-4-11 Caps this season. They should already have a pair of wins over the Goats and should have beaten Eastern Conference bottom-feeders Montreal and Chicago, only to have to settle for 0-0 draws.

At the StubHub in Week 2, it was a sloppy giveaway by Nigel Reo-Coker just before halftime that allowed the Goats, who were down to 10 men, to open the scoring.

At BC Place in July, the game was tied 1-1 when Caps fullback Jordan Harvey was red-carded in the 69th minute. Chivas went on to score twice while Vancouver failed to convert several good chances.

Chivas was on a bit of a roll a month ago — the 3-1 win was the Goats’ fourth in a row — but it was the lone bright stretch in a season that is turning out like so many others for the league’s most troubled franchise. No owner. No fan support. Not enough talent.

The Goats are just 6-11-5 and have scored a league-worst 21 goals. In fact, they’ve been blanked in three consecutive games. Outside of gifted young striker Erick Torres, who has 14 goals, no other player has more than two.

Coach Carl Robinson has hammered that home this week by continually reminding his squad that the Goats have been better in the first two matchups.

“Results don’t lie,” Robinson said.

With 12 games remaining in the regular season and a heavy dose of Western Conference opponents on the schedule, the Caps could use a run of positive results to maintain their fifth-place standing or move up into position to host a playoff game.

“We’re coming to the business end of the season and, notoriously, teams that go on to have a good run are the ones that probably kick on from now to the end of the season,” centre back Andy O’Brien said.

The 35-year-old O’Brien drew back into the lineup last week after missing seven games, the first couple to a hip injury and the others because young Carlyle Mitchell had been playing well.

A polished presence in the locker-room and on the pitch, O’Brien was solid and provided the kind of on-field leadership that helped the Caps close out a 2-0 victory over reigning MLS Cup champions Sporting Kansas City.

Even with newly signed Costa Rican centre back Kendall Waston training all week, Robinson will almost certainly go with the O’Brien-Johnny Leveron pairing in Carson.

“Andy was excellent,” Robinson said. “His professionalism leading up to the game and the last two to three weeks in training has been fantastic.”

O’Brien said it’s good to see that the club’s raft of young players are buying into the idea that it’s a critical time in the campaign to train at full tilt and get the proper preparation done.

“A lot of it now is sort of self-explanatory,” he said this week of the drive toward the playoffs.

“Just watching the training today, it’s as high-tempo as I’ve seen. And that’s not just lip service, either. It looked very impressive. The basics to a successful team are (when) you’ve got players in the team that are working hard, and the ones that are not are working hard to get in it.”

Robinson could be looking at a couple of changes to the starting lineup, with Russell Teibert expected to slot in beside Matias Laba at holding midfielder for Gershon Koffie. The Ghanian injured his ankle against Sporting Kansas City.

Attacking midfielder Pedro Morales (hamstring) was in and out of practice this week and, if he can’t go, it would give young Nicolas Mezquida an opportunity. The Uruguayan was buzzing all over the field during training.

Omar Salgado also got an extended look at right wing in practice. If he doesn’t start in place of Erik Hurtado, he’s almost certain to be used as a substitute.

For whoever gets on the field Saturday at the StubHub Center, where there could be as few as 3,000 fans in the stands, maintaining focus will be a key.

“We won a big game last weekend and now we go down to Chivas — with maybe 3,000 people in the stadium, it changes the atmosphere,” Salgado said. “We have to come in thinking we’ve got to win the game, get the three points and keep our form going.”

Veteran centre back Andy O’Brien gets a second consecutive start paired with Johnny Leveron. But is the calm and composed Englishman, who sat out seven straight games, on borrowed time? Coach Carl Robinson lauded the 35-year-old’s professionalism and leadership in the 2-0 win last Sunday over Sporting Kansas City. But the Caps didn’t sign towering Costa Rican Kendall Waston earlier this month to just sit and watch the rest of this season before becoming a long-term replacement. Waston did make the trip to Los Angeles for Saturday’s match, although he won’t dress. Fullback Steven Beitashour says he loves having O’Brien in the back line. “He’s the anchor. He’s a veteran. He’s experienced. Obviously, he’s a great player as well, technical. He’s a big presence for us.”

GOATS GET HELP

After an encouraging four-game win streak in mid-season, Chivas USA has once again sunk to the bottom of the Western Conference, nine points back of the Caps, who hold down the fifth and final playoff spot. The Goats haven’t won in four and were blanked in the last three games. To address their scoring woes, they’ve brought in 31-year-old Ecuadorean international Felix Borja, who has spent time in Greece, Germany and Mexico. “I’m a striker that likes to go up top in the centre of the attack,” he said this week. “But where I am most strong is inside the box, so I hope to take the most advantage of my abilities.” He joins two other Ecuadoreans and a handful of other Spanish-speaking players on the Chivas roster. “I need to adapt as quickly as possible … and we hope to have a good close to the season,” he said.

THE WING MEN

The Caps’ last seven goals have come from striker Darren Mattocks (four), Pedro Morales from the penalty spot, centre back Carlyle Mitchell off a corner and a Sporting Kansas City own goal. They haven’t got a goal from one of their wingers since Sebastian Fernandez scored from long range against Seattle back on July 5. Coach Carl Robinson shuffled his attacking core around at practice this week and it’s possible we could see youngsters Omar Salgado and Kekuta Manneh starting in place of Erik Hurtado and Fernandez. Salgado, 20, has started just one game all season, while Manneh has played just 43 minutes off the bench over the last five games. “(Salgado) was excellent Sunday for the 10 minutes he was on the field,” Robinson said. “He’s training very well and he will get his chance.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

DARREN MATTOCKS, Whitecaps

The third-year striker is enjoying his best run as a Whitecap, with goals in four consecutive games. His body language and the fact he doesn’t chase down every long ball can still irk fans. But he’s creating chances and giving teammates credit, calling midfield maestro Pedro Morales a “genius.” Said Mattocks: “All of my performances, all of my goals are down to (teammates) working extremely hard trying to get goal-scoring opportunities. They’ve been just phenomenal.”

ERICK TORRES, Chivas USA

The young Mexican was on fire for a while, scoring in six consecutive games to climb to No. 2 in MLS with 14 goals on the season. But he’s been blanked in three straight. And in those games, none of Torres’s seven shots were on goal. Only one other Goat has more than one goal this season, and Chivas has scored just six first-half goals in 22 games — by far the fewest in the league. “(Torres) needs help from us,” midfielder Mauro Rosales said. “It’s too lonely in the attacking part of the field.”

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Veteran fullback Steven Beitashour and the rest of the Vancouver Whitecaps will look to exact some revenge for last month’s 3-1 loss to Chivas USA when they play a rematch in Carson, Calif., on Saturday night.

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